Ireland is top location for research and development

According to a new survey Ireland is the most competitive location for research and development (R&D) in the world.An accountancy firm, called Mazars, looked at 20 countries worldwide to evaluate them in relation to cost of global R&D initiatives after tax and other cost incentives.After preliminary research eight of the countries with the most attractive R&D tax regimes were analyzed. The aim was to find the most effective tax rate for companies make an invest in R&D. The eight top countries Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Britain and the United States.Ireland was found to have an effective tax rate of one percent which made it the second most competitive country. The survey also found the Israel had the most competitive effective rate at minus six percent.Noel Cunningham, a partner at Mazars said “"A tax computation was completed for each country to determine the after tax cost of a given level of R&D expenditure so as to arrive at an effective tax rate."Israel and Ireland had the best corporation tax rates at 11.5% and 12.5% respectively. However, Israel’s regime provides for grants of 50% of the R&D investment, whereas Ireland provides a tax credit of 25%. This is where Israel leads the rest of the world in terms of supporting R&D investment."Fourteen companies have already made announcments for R&D facilities in Ireland. These include IBM who have invested $85 million in their first smarter cities technology centers. Also Analogue Devices in Limerick have invested $29.7 million.Cunningham said “Based on our analysis, Ireland should attract continued R&D investments to Ireland.”